Soybeans have been cultivated for many years throughout the world forming a food staple of extraordinary value when its seeds are further processed and refined into its component oil and flour by well-known processes. Unfortunately, soybean seed contains very low levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid esters (PUFA's) specifically removed by processes such as partial or total hydrogenation of the oil, which removes mono and polyunsaturated fatty acid esters. The resulting flour or oil, which could be partially defatted, is suitable for cooking fried foods because the resulting oil is heat stable due to its lack of polyunsaturated fatty acid esters. The resulting partially defatted flour is also processed under heat to remove the majority of the remaining fatty acid ester oils and is used extensively in bakery applications either alone or in combination with the phospholipids derived from the processing of soybeans and/or small portions of refined soy oil free of polyunsaturated fatty acid esters. Typical products include Bakers Soy Flour and Soylec sold by Archer Daniels Midland, for example.
Flax, such as flax seed, has also been cultivated and used extensively for hundreds of years as a plant based source of oils rich in the fatty acids esters of alpha-linoleic acid and linoleic acid. Unfortunately, this seed, e.g., the seed's meal, also contains significant quantities of toxic cyanogenic glycosides, Vitamin B antagonists and phytoestrogenic lignans making the seed meal undesirable for human consumption. A typical use of flax seed oil is in the production of linseed oil, which is a readily air polymerized oil and widely known for its use in oil based paints, furniture finishing applications and for the production of the flooring product commonly known as linoleum. The use of linseed oil in these applications relies on the oils lack of oxidative stability. Daily recommended human seed consumption is limited in many parts of the world due to the high level of cyanogenic glycosides found in the whole seeds. These produce toxic hydrogen cyanide once exposed to the stomach's low pH environment, certain vitamin antagonists and estrogenic lignans. Thus, flax seed or flax seed meal is generally not considered to be a good plant based source of protein or fiber due to its toxic components, antagonists and estrogenic lignans found in the seed meal.
Whey protein has also been used as a dietary supplement composition. It is the name for a collection of globular protein that can be isolated from whey, a by-product of cheese manufactured from cow's milk. It is typically a mixture of beta-lactoglobulin (˜65%), alpha-lactalbumin (˜25%), and serum albumin (˜8%), which are soluble in their native forms, independent of pH. Whey has the highest Biological Value (BV) of any known protein.
The protein fraction in Whey (approximately 10% of the total dry solids within Whey) comprises four major protein fractions and six minor protein fractions. The major protein fractions in whey are beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Each of these components have important disease-fighting effects. In addition, whey protein is easily digestible.
Whey protein can be denatured by heat. High heat (like the sustained high temperatures above 72 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit) associated with the pasteurization process) denatures whey proteins, destroying some bioactive compounds, such as the amino acid cysteine. While native whey protein does not aggregate upon renneting or acidification of milk, denaturing the whey protein triggers hydrophobic interactions with other proteins, and the formation of disulfide bonds between whey proteins and casein micelles, leading to aggregation with other milk proteins at low pH.
Whey protein typically comes in three major forms: concentrate, isolate and hydrolysate. Whey protein concentrates contain a low level of fat and cholesterol but generally have higher levels of bioactive compounds, and carbohydrates in the form of lactose—they are 29%-89% protein by weight. Isolates are processed to remove the fat, and lactose, but are usually lower in bioactive compounds as well—they are 90%+ protein by weight. Both of these types are mild to slightly milky in taste. Hydrolysates are predigested, partially hydrolyzed whey proteins which consequently are more easily absorbed, but their cost is generally higher. Whey protein hydrolysate also tends to taste quite different than other forms of whey protein, usually in a way that many find undesirable but can be masked when used in beverages.
More than other protein supplements, whey protein powder is commonly used by bodybuilders and other athletes to accelerate muscle development and aid in recovery. Some individuals with suppressed or otherwise abnormal immune systems or degenerative diseases use undenatured bioactive whey proteins to increase their antioxidant levels. Undenatured whey proteins are a good source of cysteine, a conditionally essential amino acid which is the rate limiting factor for the body's production of glutathione, an important antioxidant.
Examples of commercial whey proteins include those available in most health food stores and supermarket health sections. They typically are formed of isolate/concentrate or isolate/concentrate/hydrolysate mixtures and are usually flavored so they can be mixed with water or milk and consumed as a drink or shake. However, whey protein contains little or no soluble or insoluble fiber and no PUFA content. Other diet avenues are desirable.
Salvia hispanica L. is a known, yet ancient, cultivated seed that was consumed by the Aztec and Mayan cultures where it was a highly prized food staple. In fact, their well balanced diet consisted primarily of corn, beans, amaranth and chia seed. In addition, chia seed is a critical component of the well known “Chia Pet” due to the seed's ability to readily absorb and retain moisture, its high level of germination and its sticky muco-polysaccharide outer seed coating.
In addition to consuming the whole seed, these cultures also prepared a ready-to-drink, non-shelf stable (thus unstable) beverage by mixing chia seed with various fruit juices including, for example, lime juice in a ratio of approximately 1:12 to 1:30 seed to juice wt/wt ratios with or without the addition of sugar. The product, which is still made today locally in Central and South America, is commonly referred to as “Chia Fresca”. It is unstable, however.
Salvia hispanica L. is known to contain high natural levels of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acid triglycerides of alpha-linolenic acid (“ALA”) an “omega-3” fatty acid and linoleic acid (“LA”), an essential “omega-6” fatty acid, in a unique ratio of approximately 3.3:1. The seed provides approximately 33% seed oil, 21% protein, 41% total dietary fiber and high levels of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus. The total composition of chia seed is well known to those skilled in the art. In addition, this seed, unlike flax seed, contains no gluten, cyanogenic glycosides, lignans or vitamin B antagonists. Therefore chia seed is an excellent source of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, protein, fiber and minerals.
Some hundreds of years ago, the seed crop was destroyed during the Spanish conquest of the Central American cultures to interrupt the food supply. Only in recent years have agronomists successfully re-cultivated this re-emerging seed for use in “Chia Pets” and more recently as a viable source of the plant-based essential fatty acids, e.g., ALA and LA. The seed has unique benefits of high levels of the essential fatty acid esters of ALA and LA, protein, both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber, and high levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. An advantage is the seed typically contains no cyanogenic glycosides, Vitamin B antagonists or the phytoestrogenic lignans found in Flax seed. This makes the Salvia Hispanic L. seed an excellent and relatively new source of plant based ALA and LA. Many unique properties of this seed are disclosed in US patent Application numbers 2002/0155182, 2004/0185129, and 2004/0137132, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,332,803 and 6,123,965, the disclosures which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Some commercial operators hydrate and separate seed coat polysaccharide from water pre-soaked seeds to derive a separated seed gel coat useful in the preparation of gel enhanced beverages and later apply the whole seed for the treatment and prevention of human diseases. The operators also produce expeller pressed flour from Salvia hispanica L seed, which is used either alone or admixed with other grain or legume seed flours, meat based seasonings, vegetable based pastes, diary-based products and the like.
It is well known that solvent based or expeller press based extraction of Salvia hispanica L. seed leads to the isolation of seed oil containing high levels of the polyunsaturated essential fatty acid esters ALA and LA as well as other oils such as the saturated fatty acid esters of palmitic and stearic acids and the monounsaturated fatty acid ester of oleic at levels as high as 30% of the seed weight. These oils, which are very rich in the polyunsaturated triglycerides of ALA and LA, are extremely unstable once exposed to any oxidative potential, including the oxygen found in air. Therefore, it has been found that exposure of such the solvent extracted seed oil to air results in rapid oxidative degradation of the oil and accompanying oil rancidity, not unlike the oils derived from flax seed. Thus, the native oils that are extracted from Salvia hispanica L. exhibit very poor shelf life and present a significant challenge for shelf life stabilization. Therefore, the whole grain seed has been used extensively to date rather than its component parts to deliver the health benefits of the seed in human as well as animal diets. For example, in the Americas, Salvia hispanica L. seed has for a long time been first pre-soaked in water to absorb up to nine to twelve times its weight in water to which various fruit juices have been added to produce a product known as “Chia Fresca” for immediate consumption.
Other details concerning the use of chia are found in the Opinion of Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies on a request from the Commission related to the safety of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seed and ground whole chia seed as a novel food ingredient intended for use in bread, e.g., the EFSA Journal 278, 1-2; (2005); http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/nda/nda opinions/catindex en.html the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
However, there is a need for a cold or room temperature shelf stable chia seed containing beverage or beverage that exhibits pH dependent thixotropic properties. There is also a need for improved chia seed beverages and chia seed compositions of matter and uses thereof as related methods that overcomes the drawbacks as noted above.